GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2018) Issue of the Iranian presence in Syria is one of the main topics on the agenda of talks between US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"These issues are on the agenda � This is one of the main topics and it will be inevitably raised," Ryabkov told reporters, when asked whether the presence of Iranian troops in Syria would be addressed at Bolton-Patrushev talks in Geneva.
The official stressed that the United States had been pursuing rather "shallow" approach in issues related to the Syrian crisis, as well as in many other situations.
"Outside of the context of these negotiations, one thing is clear to us - like in many other situations, like with many other issues on the international agenda, the United States is pursuing the policy of increasingly dumbing down their own concepts in the area of foreign policy and reducing any issue to one-dimensional, shallow and, frankly speaking, stupid approach," Ryabkov said.
The diplomat stressed that demands for Iran's withdrawal from Syria could not serve as a basis for talks.
"They camouflage demands for departure of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad with words 'Syria needs a political transition.' It cannot serve as basis for any agreements. Iran's withdrawal from Syria as a precondition is the same thing, it reflects Washington's desire to dictate to everyone around it what is good and what is bad, it is unwillingness, or even inability, to listen to someone other than themselves," Ryabkov said.
